Dhaulagiri's East Face
D h a u l a g i r i ’ s East Face Nick E s t c o u r t Me m o r i a l E x p e d i t i o n A l e x M a c I n t y r e , British M ountaineering Council
I n T H E F IR ST W E E K of N ovem ber of 1979 W ojciech K urtyka, a m em ber of the Polish expedition to the north side of Dhaulagiri, struggled through waist-deep snow and inclem ent w eather to check on an idea that had grown in his m ind over the past few years. On reaching the northeast col, he began to descend into the basin that lies between the northeast and southeast ridges. A tem porary break in the w eather confirmed his notion. The east face of D haulagiri was indeed a very appealing, classically beautiful face, unclimbed, indeed u n attem pted. The first N ick E stcourt M em orial Expedition* was born. O ur team com prised the Polish climbers W ojciech K u rty k a and Ludw ik W ilczyczynski, the young French guide Rene G hilini and me from the U nited Kingdom. W e were basically the third Anglo-Polish expedition of this nature, excepting th at my traditional partner, John P orter, was unable to come and Rene had readily accepted my invitation during a “wee” w inter epic on the G randes Jorasses N o rth W all at C hristm as of 1979. T he east face of Dhaulagiri is bounded by the northeast and southeast ridges. We chose to approach it via the traditional 15,500-foot Base Cam p on the M ayangdi Glacier and an A dvanced Base at 19,275 feet on the northeast col, below the classic northeast ridge, the line of the 1960 first ascent. F rom there we would descend slightly into the basin that lies below the face and above the icefalls of the southeast glacier. The basin was almost reached by the 1969 A m erican expedition via th at glacier, but
* Nick Estcourt, one of Britain’s most outstanding climbers, was killed on K2 in 1978. The Nick Estcourt M em orial Fund was founded to com m em orate Nick. Each year an expedition which is felt to comprise outstanding, up-andcoming climbers with a particularly outstanding challenging objective will re ceive the award. It is administered by the M ount Everest Foundation. We dedicated the climb to his memory.
an avalanche caused by a collapsing ice cliff on the eastern flank of the southeastern ridge caused the loss of the lives of seven men. W e left K athm andu on M arch 17, drove to P okhara and walked, following the K ali G andaki, to Tukuche. We then approached via the D am bush and F rench Passes. T he alternate route w ould have been to follow the M ayangdi River, and though longer and less pleasant, it is to be recom m ended in the pre-m onsoon season. We had quite an epic and very expensive struggle over the two storm-exposed, snow-covered passes. The whole escapade took us eight days in all, rather m ore than the tra ditional three, possible for post-m onsoon trips. In order to facilitate a reasonable chance of climbing the east face alpine-style, we obviously needed to acclimatize as well as possible. The northeast ridge was being attem pted by a very large Swiss expedition, and we had obtained permission from the N epalese authorities to approach the Swiss and ask for their agreem ent for our ideas. A fter initial reluc tance, the Swiss said we could climb on the ridge, provided we did n ot interfere w ith them. We extend warm thanks to the Swiss for their u nder standing. F irst we would climb to 6500 meters (21,326 feet) and return to our tents on the col on the same day. On the second occasion we w ould bivouac at 6500 meters, climb to 7000 meters (22,966 feet) and return to the 6500-m eter bivouac. On the third we w ould bivouac at 6500 and 7000 m eters and climb to 7500 meters (24,607 feet) to estab lish a cache of food and fuel for our descent after the east-face climb. As it turned out, only W ojciech K urtyka fulfilled the com plete plan, but it is an exam ple of the sort of approach we adopt to get in shape for a m ajor alpine-style climb. The usual “wizened old m an” photographs of super fit athletes who have rushed too fast to their objective would have no place on this trip. These forays went on from April 13 to 28. W e began our attem pt on the face in the early hours of M ay 6, by moonlight. The snow was hard and we took little m ore than an hour from the col to the foot of the face. The m orning daw ned fine and saw us established on the bottom of the face, tackling a com pact rock band w hich held us up for nearly three hours. W e then moved out onto the face, seeking an easy line on snow and ice through the com pact rock. The rock in this area is notorious for its roof-tile form ation, w hich gives little protection and few good holds. The veneer of snow and ice on the face was surprisingly thin, being typically pow dery snow over thin ice over the com pact rock. We halted for a brew tow ards m idday on the first reasonable stopping place, a small knoll of rock out of character w ith the sm oother surround ings. The w eather was deteriorating and by m id-afternoon our progress had been brought to a halt by fierce spindrift. We took belated shelter under a short rock wall and opted to try to bivouac there. It was obvious that the face was deficient of bivouac spots and we did n ot wish to get totally caught in the open with nightfall and spindrift. The bivouac was
poor. T he ledges we were able to cut ourselves were decidedly on the narrow side and the protection offered by the rock against the spindrift was minimal. Cooking was awkward. T he following two days and bivouacs to the top of the face were m uch the same, tracing the line through com pact, snowed-over rock and avoid ing areas of deep soft snow. The ice grew increasingly h arder and m ore watery, of a nature that would have one cursing even in an alpine winter. We used the rope on only two pitches throughout the route, belays being difficult to impossible in general and all mem bers of the party being con tent to solo. The climb com pared with the Swiss route on the Courtes N o rth Face and presented the same order of difficulty. Everyone in the team was at hom e w ith snow and ice and our m ain safety lay in speed. R etreat from the face in the conditions we encountered would have been problem atical. The second bivouac on the face was an absolute horror. The w eather had been poor all day, the thunder which had begun the previous evening persisted and the spindrift had become torrential. As one point Ludwik and I found ourselves stranded on front points in an all-engulfing stream of the stuff unable to move or even reseat our gear for fear of being pushed off the face. The bivouac spot was non existent. One minor ledge was excavated and three members got in the bivouac sac at th at point. Wojciech slumped in slings, half sat on a m inute crum bling ledge of snow, unable to get in his sleeping bag and with bivouac sac upside down over his head. Cooking for either party was well nigh impossible. T he northeast ridge was reached by nightfall of the third day and a poor bivouac was m ade in the teeth of a bitter, howling wind, snow and thunder. Preparations for the climb to the sum m it began soon after m id night in order that enough w ater could be melted to give the members a chance of success after the depleting experiences on the face below. H ow ever, the m orning dawned to reveal continued bad w eather and extreme avalanche danger on the way to the summit. It was this later point w hich persuaded us to descend the ridge and await better conditions. The descent off the ridge to the col was avalanche threatened but fast. On M ay 10 we were back in Base Camp. The Swiss had moved little in this period and assured us it was the w orst w eather they had encoun tered on the mountain. On M ay 15 we returned to the col. T he conditions on the glacier between Base Cam p and the col were deteriorating and the passage through the icefall becom ing increasingly dangerous. On M ay 16 the Poles moved up to the snow hole at 6500 meters, though Rene and I got w aylaid at the Swiss camp at 6400 meters and spent the night in one of their tents w hich had been collapsed by a snow slide. As it snowed during m uch of the night, we slept with open knives in our hands in case they were needed to cut our way out of the tent if
it should be avalanched again. On the 17th we moved up the ridge to bivouac at 7200 meters. We reached the sum m it at 12:40 on M ay 18 on a good and fairly calm day by D haulagiri’s standards, having overhauled a team of two Swiss (on oxygen) and two Sherpas at about 8:30. W e approached the sum m it via the large north-facing snow slope which would be a dangerous proposition to a slow party caught out by snowfall. A short couloir 100 meters to the right of the sum m it led to the plateau. On M ay 20 the whole team was back in Base Camp. From there it was all steam for K athm andu and the last man back bought the beers! Sum m ary o f Statistics: Central Nepal.
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Dhaulagiri, 8167 meters, 26,795 feet, East Face climbed to a point about 7500 meters on the southeast ridge, M ay 6 to 8, 1980; sum m it reached via southeast ridge, M ay 18. R ené Ghilini, French, Alex M acIntyre, British; W ojciech K urtyka and Ludwik W ilczyczynski, Polish.
P erso n n el:
I n T H E F IR ST W E E K of N ovem ber of 1979 W ojciech K urtyka, a m em ber of the Polish expedition to the north side of Dhaulagiri, struggled through waist-deep snow and inclem ent w eather to check on an idea that had grown in his m ind over the past few years. On reaching the northeast col, he began to descend into the basin that lies between the northeast and southeast ridges. A tem porary break in the w eather confirmed his notion. The east face of D haulagiri was indeed a very appealing, classically beautiful face, unclimbed, indeed u n attem pted. The first N ick E stcourt M em orial Expedition* was born. O ur team com prised the Polish climbers W ojciech K u rty k a and Ludw ik W ilczyczynski, the young French guide Rene G hilini and me from the U nited Kingdom. W e were basically the third Anglo-Polish expedition of this nature, excepting th at my traditional partner, John P orter, was unable to come and Rene had readily accepted my invitation during a “wee” w inter epic on the G randes Jorasses N o rth W all at C hristm as of 1979. T he east face of Dhaulagiri is bounded by the northeast and southeast ridges. We chose to approach it via the traditional 15,500-foot Base Cam p on the M ayangdi Glacier and an A dvanced Base at 19,275 feet on the northeast col, below the classic northeast ridge, the line of the 1960 first ascent. F rom there we would descend slightly into the basin that lies below the face and above the icefalls of the southeast glacier. The basin was almost reached by the 1969 A m erican expedition via th at glacier, but
* Nick Estcourt, one of Britain’s most outstanding climbers, was killed on K2 in 1978. The Nick Estcourt M em orial Fund was founded to com m em orate Nick. Each year an expedition which is felt to comprise outstanding, up-andcoming climbers with a particularly outstanding challenging objective will re ceive the award. It is administered by the M ount Everest Foundation. We dedicated the climb to his memory.
an avalanche caused by a collapsing ice cliff on the eastern flank of the southeastern ridge caused the loss of the lives of seven men. W e left K athm andu on M arch 17, drove to P okhara and walked, following the K ali G andaki, to Tukuche. We then approached via the D am bush and F rench Passes. T he alternate route w ould have been to follow the M ayangdi River, and though longer and less pleasant, it is to be recom m ended in the pre-m onsoon season. We had quite an epic and very expensive struggle over the two storm-exposed, snow-covered passes. The whole escapade took us eight days in all, rather m ore than the tra ditional three, possible for post-m onsoon trips. In order to facilitate a reasonable chance of climbing the east face alpine-style, we obviously needed to acclimatize as well as possible. The northeast ridge was being attem pted by a very large Swiss expedition, and we had obtained permission from the N epalese authorities to approach the Swiss and ask for their agreem ent for our ideas. A fter initial reluc tance, the Swiss said we could climb on the ridge, provided we did n ot interfere w ith them. We extend warm thanks to the Swiss for their u nder standing. F irst we would climb to 6500 meters (21,326 feet) and return to our tents on the col on the same day. On the second occasion we w ould bivouac at 6500 meters, climb to 7000 meters (22,966 feet) and return to the 6500-m eter bivouac. On the third we w ould bivouac at 6500 and 7000 m eters and climb to 7500 meters (24,607 feet) to estab lish a cache of food and fuel for our descent after the east-face climb. As it turned out, only W ojciech K urtyka fulfilled the com plete plan, but it is an exam ple of the sort of approach we adopt to get in shape for a m ajor alpine-style climb. The usual “wizened old m an” photographs of super fit athletes who have rushed too fast to their objective would have no place on this trip. These forays went on from April 13 to 28. W e began our attem pt on the face in the early hours of M ay 6, by moonlight. The snow was hard and we took little m ore than an hour from the col to the foot of the face. The m orning daw ned fine and saw us established on the bottom of the face, tackling a com pact rock band w hich held us up for nearly three hours. W e then moved out onto the face, seeking an easy line on snow and ice through the com pact rock. The rock in this area is notorious for its roof-tile form ation, w hich gives little protection and few good holds. The veneer of snow and ice on the face was surprisingly thin, being typically pow dery snow over thin ice over the com pact rock. We halted for a brew tow ards m idday on the first reasonable stopping place, a small knoll of rock out of character w ith the sm oother surround ings. The w eather was deteriorating and by m id-afternoon our progress had been brought to a halt by fierce spindrift. We took belated shelter under a short rock wall and opted to try to bivouac there. It was obvious that the face was deficient of bivouac spots and we did n ot wish to get totally caught in the open with nightfall and spindrift. The bivouac was
poor. T he ledges we were able to cut ourselves were decidedly on the narrow side and the protection offered by the rock against the spindrift was minimal. Cooking was awkward. T he following two days and bivouacs to the top of the face were m uch the same, tracing the line through com pact, snowed-over rock and avoid ing areas of deep soft snow. The ice grew increasingly h arder and m ore watery, of a nature that would have one cursing even in an alpine winter. We used the rope on only two pitches throughout the route, belays being difficult to impossible in general and all mem bers of the party being con tent to solo. The climb com pared with the Swiss route on the Courtes N o rth Face and presented the same order of difficulty. Everyone in the team was at hom e w ith snow and ice and our m ain safety lay in speed. R etreat from the face in the conditions we encountered would have been problem atical. The second bivouac on the face was an absolute horror. The w eather had been poor all day, the thunder which had begun the previous evening persisted and the spindrift had become torrential. As one point Ludwik and I found ourselves stranded on front points in an all-engulfing stream of the stuff unable to move or even reseat our gear for fear of being pushed off the face. The bivouac spot was non existent. One minor ledge was excavated and three members got in the bivouac sac at th at point. Wojciech slumped in slings, half sat on a m inute crum bling ledge of snow, unable to get in his sleeping bag and with bivouac sac upside down over his head. Cooking for either party was well nigh impossible. T he northeast ridge was reached by nightfall of the third day and a poor bivouac was m ade in the teeth of a bitter, howling wind, snow and thunder. Preparations for the climb to the sum m it began soon after m id night in order that enough w ater could be melted to give the members a chance of success after the depleting experiences on the face below. H ow ever, the m orning dawned to reveal continued bad w eather and extreme avalanche danger on the way to the summit. It was this later point w hich persuaded us to descend the ridge and await better conditions. The descent off the ridge to the col was avalanche threatened but fast. On M ay 10 we were back in Base Camp. The Swiss had moved little in this period and assured us it was the w orst w eather they had encoun tered on the mountain. On M ay 15 we returned to the col. T he conditions on the glacier between Base Cam p and the col were deteriorating and the passage through the icefall becom ing increasingly dangerous. On M ay 16 the Poles moved up to the snow hole at 6500 meters, though Rene and I got w aylaid at the Swiss camp at 6400 meters and spent the night in one of their tents w hich had been collapsed by a snow slide. As it snowed during m uch of the night, we slept with open knives in our hands in case they were needed to cut our way out of the tent if
it should be avalanched again. On the 17th we moved up the ridge to bivouac at 7200 meters. We reached the sum m it at 12:40 on M ay 18 on a good and fairly calm day by D haulagiri’s standards, having overhauled a team of two Swiss (on oxygen) and two Sherpas at about 8:30. W e approached the sum m it via the large north-facing snow slope which would be a dangerous proposition to a slow party caught out by snowfall. A short couloir 100 meters to the right of the sum m it led to the plateau. On M ay 20 the whole team was back in Base Camp. From there it was all steam for K athm andu and the last man back bought the beers! Sum m ary o f Statistics: Central Nepal.
A
rea:
A
scen t:
Dhaulagiri, 8167 meters, 26,795 feet, East Face climbed to a point about 7500 meters on the southeast ridge, M ay 6 to 8, 1980; sum m it reached via southeast ridge, M ay 18. R ené Ghilini, French, Alex M acIntyre, British; W ojciech K urtyka and Ludwik W ilczyczynski, Polish.
P erso n n el:
